


Underbelly: Dual Wield

by Timewaster123456789



Series: Underbelly [7]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Angst and Humor, Drinking to Cope, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Men Crying, Platonic Life Partners, Platonic Male/Male Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29956212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timewaster123456789/pseuds/Timewaster123456789
Summary: Stand alone one-shots focused on Ukitake and Kyouraku. For more in this vein checkout my collab Broken Icicles on SesshomaruFreak's FFN page.
Series: Underbelly [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1006056
Kudos: 1





	1. Humanity

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing. Please r&r SesshomaruFreaks' fics here or on FFN if you like yaoi. Also read Totoromo's (FFN) comedy pieces she(?) is hilarious. 
> 
> Spoilers for decide arc. Some inspiration taken from tvtropes page. Story partially taken from an actual story on a documentary about ptsd in veterans. 
> 
> References to anime only material from ep 281-3.

He slept most days away, there wasn't much else do. He'd wanted companionship so badly and wasn't technically alone anymore so it _was_ an improvement. Among the arrancar though there was nothing but, posturing and infighting. The only one he could remotely stand was Ulquioraa and he was depressed enough without the walking cyanide pill, thank you very much.

Among their Shinigami leaders the blind one was just irritating and the one called Gin creeped him out a bit, there was just something off about the young man. It didn't matter what he thought anyway, Gin had tried to set a firetrap in his bed once. After watching him simply lay down on the floor next to his burnt bed to sleep Gin had loudly declared him boring and left his spot in a shadowed corner of the room. They didn't interact much after that. As for Aizen-sama…while the others often got missions and tasks to complete Aizen _never_ interacted with him outside of meetings. It was to the point where, if he didn't spend most of the day sequestered in his room he'd have suspected it was deliberate. He didn't know why this was but, did not dare question the lord for fear of being kicked out of the little cabal.

x

Kyoraku watched his opponent waiting for one of them to make a move, knowing the other wanted this even less than he did. One of the hardest lessons for young Shinigami to learn and one that many, particularly in the second squad willfully ignored was that barring hollows, most enemies were human after a fashion. They had motivations and weak points no different than Shinigami themselves. It was a truth that could be extremely helpful or utterly break a kid's will to fight. A brief glance was all it took for him to see Stark's concern for the little one fighting Ukitake. The subsequent ice cold denial did nothing to change his assumptions; he'd seen Soitaichou order the deaths of men he'd trained without blinking, knew it killed him to do so. He himself had killed good friends without turning a hair…only to hours or even weeks later get crying drunk with Ukitake. Ukitake for his part claimed not to remember those nights, though his friend's tendency to drink a fraction of what he did made him wonder about that though. He somehow doubted that Stark would have the same support. He made his digs trying to rile his opponent even as he offered comfort. There was no need to make your opponent hate you. It just made things that much more difficult. In particular he didn't care to give this opponent a personal reason to kill him. At any rate why not…they weren't that different after all.

x

It wasn't uncommon to want to save your last form, be it resurreccion or 'bankai' until you couldn't wait anymore. For some it was a matter of not showing their hand, for others it was simply pride or arrogance. As usual he and Lilynette were different, he hated going into resurreccion for the fear almost phobic in its irrationality, that he wouldn't be able to reverse it. The idea that he'd again be stuck as a single entity terrified him beyond tactical concerns.

It was indeed better than it had been but, something still disquieted him. It wasn't until he was driven to fight those annoying shinigami that he began to realize why. These people would block for each other and fought side by side without any—or at least much—one-upmanship. They trusted each other. When Barragan died he realized that not only did the Arrancar not care about each other, Aizen-sama didn't give a damn about any of them either.

He did not grieve for Barragan's death or at least not solely but, for the fact that Aizen-sama had pulled the rug from beneath him. He wasn't fighting for a leader or a cause, the arrancar were being used just to be discarded. He grieved for the faith that Aizen-sama had broken. Yet still he owed the man for giving him some respite. Lilynette tells him to dodge, he was going to he was uninterested not suicidal, at least not seriously so.

Lilynette asked what was wrong and he told her to shut up, his voice harsh with the effort of keeping it even. She taunted him trying to snap him out of it to fight, yet there was more concern than bite in her tone. It still stung for how accurate it was, the burn in his eyes wasn't strictly from whacking her on his head. He understood the reason for his apprehension now; he only had a facsimile of what he sought. Put simply he was fighting for the wrong side.

Later when Lilynette asked if he was alright she didn't just mean physically. His voice cracked as he commented on their opponents strength, he'd finally found half a dozen people who could survive his presence and they were all enemies. Lilynette had often bitched that he wore his heart on his sleeve, his argument was that she'd gotten all the energy, fighting will and aggression from whatever entity they had once been so obviously he got everything else. She was going to fight though and letting her do so alone was not an option. He did wish she'd shut up though, he did _not_ want this hard-bitten dual-wielder who'd so easily picked out his vulnerability to know she was still there.

x

"He didn't want to fight," Kyoraku said quietly as he poured the sake.

"I know. It was an unpleasant situation all around," Ukitake said evenly, hearing the tension in his old friend's voice and sensing the storm brewing.

"He cried," Kyoraku continued.

"Eh?" he asked drinking his dish of sake.

"When I killed the girl…he fought me with tears on his face," his friend's voice shook just enough to give lie to his laid back attitude.

"He didn't seem like the others," he replied knowing that he couldn't make this right, could only listen.

"I didn't care," Kyoraku said. _Sure you didn't,_ he thought sadly. Silence fell as Kyoraku poured more sake with a shaking hand. He spilt some but, Ukitake didn't move to do it himself, knowing the other man's habits. He knew the script well and if he moved too soon it would just drive the Kyoraku away. The conversation wandered about for a while after that and eventually Ukitake cut himself off while Kyoraku continued to drink alone his voice beginning to slur a bit.

"W…what I d-did…it was wrong, evil," he said, emotion more than liquor making his voice break.

"You saved Love and Rose," he said soothingly. Refraining from throwing his friend's mantra about all sides being evil back in his face. It wouldn't help, he already knew it intellectually.

"Don't try to justify it!" he snapped slurring slightly. Tears began to spill from his eyes, "Th-there's no w-way to make that r…r…" he couldn't finish the sentence and merely closed his eyes, crying silently. Ukitake moved to embrace him, now he could break the charade, now he could give comfort. He would let the captain grieve another piece of his soul and the next day, when Kyoraku asked what happened Ukitake would claim to not remember either though he suspected his friend was lying too.

It was something they left out at the academy though every Shinigami who lived long enough learned it eventually: sometimes the right thing to do was wrong.


	2. Noodle Incident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing. This one is for Teddy Bear Moony (FFN).

"Remind me again why I got dragged into this?" Ukitake asked.

"Because you're a great friend and I'm buying you a year's supply of tea," Kyoraku said slinging an arm around his shoulders. Ukitake shook him off.

"How hard is it not to date subordinates?"

"I wasn't dating her it, isn't my fault that she couldn't resist my charms,"

"You didn't have to take her to dinner," Ukitake said.

"Well I couldn't just crush her hopes and dreams," Kyoraku replied with mock horror. Ukitake shook his head as they entered the fourth division barracks. They entered the captain's office and Unohana looked up.

"Ah so it says that you are here for a sexual harassment class because you…oh ugh really?" she asked looking disgusted.

"I swear I didn't know, " Kyoraku replied looking disturbed.

"He really didn't," Ukitake added honestly.

"Even for you Shunsui this is beyond the pale, and Juushiro you of all people," she continued.

"Hey all I did was stop it without anyone getting hurt," he defended himself.

"Well obviously someone got hurt. You toyed with her feelings," she admonished. He felt a blush rising in his cheeks and ducked his head.

Unohana sighed and looked down at a paper on her desk, "You are aware that there are rules against dating your subordinates particularly one who's…"

"Yes of course taichou," they replied together.

"Okay you know the drill, read these pamphlets and we'll get started," she said fixing Kyoraku with a steely gaze. He looked at the booklet and grimaced glancing over at Kyoraku.

They passed fifteen minutes glancing over the booklets, he was pretty sure Kyoraku had seen it a hundred times. Unohana pulled out some colorful little things that looked _very_ vaguely like cloth people.

"These are sensitivity puppets," she said looking dangerous. Kyoraku looked horrified and he felt the same, unsure whether an annoyed Unohana or the puppets were scarier. He would have happily died for Kyoraku but, one had to draw the line somewhere. He forced himself to start coughing, hardly difficult and leaned over the desk playing it up. He looked up trying to appear as forlorn as possible ostentatiously wiping the blood from his mouth.

"I'm…taichou…I don't think I can..." he began.

Unohana shook her head smirking slightly, "go." He stood and walked slowly from the room.

"I thought you were my friend," Kyoraku groused.

"There are limits," he whispered.

"Bastard," Kyoraku snapped. He winked as he left, Unohana holding a hand in front of her mouth as she tried not to laugh.

"You know someone should," he heard Kyoraku saying through the door.

"No!" Unohana barked. He picked up the pace a little; sometimes you had to save yourself.


	3. Necessity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing. Please R&R SesshomaruFreak (Ao3/FFN) and Dreadful Virtue (FFN). Spoilers Up to Ch.172

Ukitake's righteous anger faded slowly following his confrontation with young Byakuya. As good as attacking him would have felt Kaien's voice in his head was right, it wouldn't have accomplished anything and violence without purpose was simply barbarism. He recovered himself, planning furiously.

x

That night he went to meet Kyoraku to discudss the situation dinner.

"Relax the Kuchiki kid will get cold feet. You know he has the pull to at least slow it down. We'll have more time," Kyoraku said as he ate some sushi. Ukitake grimaced.

"Forgive me if I don't want to bet Rukia's life on him relenting," Ukitake replied.

"He's a stubborn one for sure but, certainly when he sees that it isn't going to resolve itself he'll do the right thing," Kyoraku said but, Ukitake could see the worry and doubt creep into his features.

"Well that depends on how one defines 'right'. You didn't see him when I said the date had been moved again. Not a flinc, he was completely resigned to it," he said bitterly.

Kyoraku shook his head, "You're going to do something honorable and monumentally stupid now aren't you?"

Ukitake grimaced "Me? Never. You remember that shield that Youruichi left behind?"

"Oh yeah," he replied with a dreamy smile. She had somehow managed to sneak it into Ukitake's captain's office and left it with a note that said 'Keep it safe' and a stark naked photo of herself, presumably as proof that it was indeed her asking or ordering as it were.

"I'm thinking I'll take it, destroy Sokyoku and have a nice conversation with Yama-jii, it's what Kaien would do" Ukitake.

"First why do you always say 'I' when you mean 'we' and second he got himself killed because he didn't listen to you," Kyoraku groused but, he was smiling.

Ukitake shrugged, "Do you have a better idea?"

"What do you need?"

"Just meet me at the execution," he replied. There was no point in telling him that he didn't have to join Kyoraku would be there and he'd be offended by any serious suggestion to the contrary.

X

The next morning he called his third seats into his office.

"I need a favor. This is not an order,

"Yes taichou!"

"We'll do it taichou!"

Ukitake sighed, "May I tell you what it is?"

"Sorry taichou!" they barked, looking properly ashamed.

"All I need is for you to watch the hall by my quarters and announce if anyone is coming and also when the execution starts."

"Yes taichou!"

He continued as though he hadn't been interrupted "This is illegal. Though I will do my best to make sure you are not implicated, you should know the risks," Their eyes widened.

"Y-yes taichou!" Sentaro said

"We'll do it!" Kiyone said fiercely.

"Arigato, now go," he replied. _How had things come to this_?

X

He walked back into the hall exhausted and told them that they were going to destroy Sokyoku. His heart swelled at their perhaps misguided loyalty as they barked assent. He didn't deserve them.

He rushed to the execution, sinking his stake into the ground and he couldn't remember the last time it'd felt so good to hear Kyoraku's easy banter as his friend drove the other stake into the earth.

Later facing his master, the man he'd looked up to like a grandfather he felt ill. It was the last thing on earth he wanted and knew Kyoraku felt the same. To hear Genryusai recounting his feelings and their past with barely veiled betrayal stung deeper than any wound. Having his master cut him off as though he couldn't bear to hear excuses was worse. However the execution was wrong and his duty to his subordinates outweighed any personal loyalty he felt, on the grand scheme at least if not in his own heart.

So it wound up three people doing the last thing on earth that any of them wanted to do and Genryusai even complimenting them as they went to their deaths at his hand, it seemed somehow fitting.

He'd never felt as relieved as he did when Isane's message came through and it wasn't strictly because he would live. Kyoraku ended the fight with his usual deadpan but, they all heard the quaver in it. This fight that should never have been, would not be and never had treason been so welcome.


End file.
